Acquisition of a Family
by x-Lazart-x
Summary: Tony Stark had never been a family man... until suddenly he was, quite by accident of course. Superfamily fic.


Tony Stark was not a family man, he never really had been. Growing up his parents had been… absent, to say the least. He was raised by an arsenal of nannies and mostly only saw his parents on holidays or when they felt the need to show him off. As he'd grown older things hadn't changed much. Attending MIT as such a young age, he'd made friends certainly but none that he would ever classify as close.

Rhodey and Pepper were really good friends but it wasn't the same as family, especially not Pepper, that would have made their brief relationship extremely weird. To be honest his family had always been his bots, many might have seen this as bizarre but it really wasn't. Tony had built his own family, even if that hadn't been his intention at the time. They'd stuck with him through everything. Besides they each had their own personalities and if sometimes they made him feel a little less lonely… well that was his own business.

Joining the Avengers, Tony hadn't been sure what to expect. Hell after the initial meeting he figured they'd be lucky if they ever even managed to hold a civil conversation, never mind end up living together. Yet that's how events had played out. Pulling together to keep the Earth safe from an alien invasion had been a real bonding experience. While he'd been rebuilding Stark Tower, he'd accidentally seen the small, sparse accommodations that S.H.I.E.L.D. had provided for the rest of the team.

It was partially exasperation at the agencies incompetence that made him design the new tower so that each Avenger had their own floor. Trying to guess the tastes of each of them had actually turned out to be quite entertaining. Tony was rather proud of it when he was finished, by that time his relationship with Pepper was already over and she'd moved out. The rest of the team arriving was almost a relief, taking his mind off of it. The day he'd moved back into his apartment, Clint and Natasha had shown up, bags slung over their shoulders and made themselves right at home. Bruce showed up that night and Thor was off with Jane, or checking on her, Tony wasn't too sure on the details. As soon as he'd arrived, Tony had been down in his workshop, getting everything set up and his bots settled, thus it wasn't until three days later that he realized Steve wasn't in the tower.

Bruce had been the one to point out that Steve was nothing if not a gentleman and probably didn't want to assume he could just move in like everyone else had. Initially he'd scoffed at the idea before later admitting to himself that Bruce was probably right and had went to personally collect Steve.

Eight months down the line and Tony had came to the startling conclusion that he considered these people his family. Christmas was fast approaching and he was building everyone something special when it had just… hit him. They teased each other, got on each others nerves, had each others backs. The thought had tickled him to no end (after panicking slightly). All those years without a family and now he had assassins, a demi-god, a hulk… really he wouldn't want it any other way.

Initially that's why he'd been wary of pursuing a relationship with Steve. At the time he hadn't considered the team family but he didn't want to mess up the team dynamic if things had gone south, not something Tony would have cared about a year ago. The attraction had been intense though and after a slightly rocky start it had been mostly smooth sailing. Steve was amazingly patient with Tony, even when he got lost in the workshop for days, while Tony helped him catch up on what he'd missed while in the ice, reintroducing him to the world.

This was the happiest Tony could remember being. He should have realized it was inevitable that things would get complicated again.

* * *

Tony cruised along slowly, surveying the wreckage. Hammer had attacked New York, as far as they could tell it was just to try and induce panic. A week into the new year and already he was trying to cause chaos. The bots he'd sent hadn't been terribly difficult to stop. After evacuating citizens they'd herded them all into one area before starting to destroy them, which had turned out to be a good thing, considering all the damage that had been done. A handful of buildings had been completely demolished, while quite a few more had been damaged in the fight. All the Avengers had already headed out and soon S.H.I.E.L.D. agents would be flooding the area to asses the damage and organize cleanup.

Meanwhile Tony was looking for a bot that hadn't been completely destroyed, so he could take it apart and study it; see exactly what kind of technology Hammer was dealing with. True he could wait for the clean up and ask Fury to have a look, something he was loathe to do. This way his curiosity was satisfied and Fury would be the one coming to him asking for a favor when his agents were baffled by it.

Jarvis was sweeping the area, knowing that they had five - ten minutes tops before the agents arrived. He was so focused on the rubble that when the red blob flashed on his screen he didn't even register its meaning till Jarvis spoke up.

"Sir we're picking up a heat signature," the cool tone brought Tony back to attention.

"Wait- What?" he replied baffled, coming to a stop, hovering in place, glancing back at the collapsed building he'd just flown past. This time paying attention to the dot that came on his screen.

"I believe someone is inside the building sir."

"Shit, they were supposed to have been cleared out," Tony cursed, swooping down. He landed amongst the rubble gently, half the building had collapsed in on itself. That on top of the fact that the dot wasn't moving at all led Tony to believe that whoever was under there was dead or possibly injured, either way he had to get them out. "Is there any way to get to them without bringing more of the building down on top of us?"

Tony fidgeted impatiently as JARVIS scanned the building in front of them and ran through the possible scenarios. This wasn't something that could be hurried, one wrong move and there'd be trouble, none the less someone could be bleeding out right now, the quicker he got to them the better.

"Route acquired sir." A 3D image of the building flashed before his eyes with the route illuminated. Taking a moment to study the image, Tony started picking his way carefully towards the trapped person, with JARVIS guiding him. He was almost there when the building around him started to shudder and shift.

"The building is collapsing." As if he needed JARVIS to tell him that. In a split decision he smashed his way through the remaining walls, grabbed the bundle off the floor and blasted his way out as the building gave way.

Outside, adrenalin pumping, he stared down at the baby in his arms, wrapped tightly in a blanket. A baby.

"There's no one else in the building." It was as if someone had just forgot the baby. Surely not… Suddenly nervous, Tony shifted the baby in his arms, worried he wasn't doing it right. The baby quieted down a little as Tony started walking, unable to tear his gaze away from the watery hazel eyes staring back at him. Calling Happy, he told him where to pick him up. In all honesty he had no idea what he was doing. All he knew was he couldn't fly with the little guy and there was no way he'd trust S.H.I.E.L.D. with a child. Hell he didn't trust himself either but he just had to make it to Stark Tower, then he'd have help and they could find the kids parents… who'd abandoned him while evacuating… shaking that thought away, he finally glanced up as he heard the sound of a car approaching. Happy arriving to take them home.

* * *

Shock was written on everyone's face as they took in the sight of Tony carrying a sleeping baby in his arms, having called ahead and asking them to be in the living room when he arrived. Even now he was wary about putting the child down, after all a building had collapsed around him just hours ago, it was a miracle that he has survived. Surely anyone else would have wanted to keep an eye on him as well.

"So… you found him and what? Just decided to take him home with you?" Natasha finally asked while the rest continued staring.

"What else was I supposed to do," Tony snapped irritated.

"Call an agent and hand him over," she said in a slightly derisive tone, as if he was completely simple.

"Well maybe if you'd evacuated like you were supposed to then I wouldn't have been put in that situation in the first place," he replied, voice steadily getting louder as he got more agitated. A muffled whimper from his arms forced him to take a deep breath and try and calm down. "It doesn't matter now, just call Coulson, ask him to start searching for the family."

"I'll call him," Steve said getting up to grab the phone. "What do we know?" Steve laid a hand gently on Tony's elbow, giving him the small smile that said he was proud; warmth spread through him and Tony felt some of the tension melt away, he should have known Steve would support him, though he hadn't realized how worried he'd been about it.

"He has brown eyes, Happy thinks he's about eight months, he was in the very corner building and I think his name's Peter, at least that's the name stitched into his blanket."

"Okay why don't you go put him down, I'll call Coulson and see what he can do," leaning in he brushed a soft kiss against his lips before walking into the kitchen for some quiet. Leaving everyone else muttering amongst themselves Tony headed to his room.

Placing Peter gently in the middle, he checked his diaper (Happy had showed him how and had stopped to buy some diapers and formula on the way home) before stacking pillows up on either side of him so couldn't accidentally roll off the bed. Telling JARVIS to keep an eye on him Tony jumped in the shower, scrubbing himself quickly. Changing and hurrying back in to his room he checked Peter, making sure he was still alright.

Steve stuck his head round the door and waved for Tony to come out into the hall. Leaving the door cracked he was immediately folded into Steve's arms, held tightly against his chest. They stood like that for a while before Tony reluctantly pulled back.

"Did you get a hold of Coulson?" he whispered, careful not to wake the baby.

"Yeah he's going to put people on it. I assured him we'd be able to handle things till tomorrow morning. He'll be here to sort out the situation, or at least discuss it. How are you holding up?"

"I'm fine," Tony assured automatically. Steve just leveled him the The Look. They'd been in a relationship for about seven months now and Steve could easily see through Tony's indifferent façade.

"You expect me to believe that?" he questioned gently.

"It has been a bit of a shock," blowing out a breath he tried to gather his scattered thoughts. "But I'm fine, really. I just… didn't expect to find a kid earlier when I went looking for the trapped citizen, I doubt it'll take long to find his family though. A few days and everything will return to normal."

* * *

Eight days later and things hadn't returned to normal, turns out it was harder to find Peter's family than they'd originally anticipated. Coulson had a team on it and just last night he'd called to say that they were following up a promising lead. Regardless it was taking a lot longer than Tony had originally intended and a lot had changed around the Tower because of Peter.

Tony had never wanted to be a parent or to have children. If asked about his reasoning, the go to response was to laugh and say he loved the single life too much. Honestly though there was more to it. Not that he would _ever _admit it to anyone but he was worried any child of his would be as unhappy as he'd been. He knew all his bad habits, knew he wasn't equipped to have someone rely on him so completely. Of course, that all hinged on the preposterous idea that someone would actually want to have his kids, would want that permanent tie to him. Before Steve it had been hard to imagine it.

Coulson, upon realizing Peter's parents were proving elusive, had suggested that he take Peter and put him into foster care, effectively ending the Avengers involvement in the situation. By then they'd already had Peter for three days and Tony was loathe to let him go. Besides, he's already had a crib, changing table, toys, supplies, basically anything a baby could ever need delivered. No expense had been spared, after all Tony could waste his money on anything he wanted to.

Due to his previous unease he had surprised himself and everyone else when he started taking over to primary care of Peter himself. Granted everyone chipped in a little but it was Tony who fed and bathed him, kept him entertained and changed his nappies, put him to bed. The most telling thing was that Tony had changed his workshop for Peter…. Well a corner of it but still.

All scrap pieces of metal had been put away, the floor scrubbed, outlets had been covered and a gate had been put in. There was plenty of room for Peter to crawl around and play with his toys while Tony worked. He also kept his music down to background noise level and would take breaks to play with and check on the baby regularly. Steve found the whole thing endearing and could often be located down in the workshop with the two of them, sending speculative glances Tony's way when he thought he wasn't looking.

Worried he would do something wrong to begin with, Tony could admit he hovered… maybe a little too much. Constantly checking didn't need changed or fed, even after putting him down for a nap or the night, Tony checked on him every hour to make sure he was still breathing and peacefully asleep. Logically he knew JARVIS was monitoring him at all times but Tony just couldn't seem to help himself.

All of that didn't stop Tony from telling himself he'd be relieved when Peter was taken off his hands. Now if only he could believe that…

* * *

"Tony, come upstairs. Coulson's here to talk about Peter, they found his mother," Steve's voice came through the intercom system, interrupting him as he was scolding Dummy for stealing Peter's toy. At the news that his mother had been found his chest tightened painfully, making him pause for a few minutes before being able to reply.

"Be right there," he forced out, picking up Peter, who immediately snuggled in close, gurgling nonsense. "Hear that little man? You're going home to your mummy…" It had taken them two weeks to track the woman down…. Which was a lot longer than it should have taken. What sort of mother left their son alone, or left him behind during evacuation? Then didn't immediately go looking for him and contact the police? Ruthlessly pushing away these thoughts, the same way he'd been doing for a fortnight, he realized the elevator doors were open and everyone in the living room was watching him puzzled. Clearing his throat he went and sat on the couch as if nothing had happened.

"Now that everyone's here, you finally found the family," Bruce immediately jumped into the matter at hand, wanting to get everything sorted out as soon as possible.

"We located his mother. The father is deceased and there are no other living relatives," Phil explained opening the folder on his lap, glancing at the information within.

"Why did it take so long to locate her?" Tony asked the question they were all thinking, absently picking up the bear that Peter had dropped. Coulson paused as if considering how best to explain the situation.

"First, we didn't have a lot to go on, which made it slow goings, even for the best teams. Second… she appeared to have been in hiding. It took us a few days to discern the situation but she has admitted to placing Peter in the building." He paused to let the fact sink in and everyone immediately started protesting at once while Tony jumped to his feet, demanding an explanation. Coulson tried to quiet the team down with no success, it wasn't till Peter started crying that tempers were reigned in an silence descended as Tony worked to calm the baby down, crooning nonsense to try and sooth him.

"What do you mean… 'placing him in the building'?" Steve asked quietly, as Peter's cries died down to a few weak whimpers.

"Exactly how it sounds I'm afraid. She was in the area during evacuation and left him in the building on purpose."

"I don't understand. Why did she do it?" Pepper asked horrified. Tony glanced over startled, he hadn't even heard her arrive.

"We don't know," Coulson acknowledged sadly. "At best we can tell she's currently being treated for depression, that's actually how we tracked her down. Our theory is that she wasn't able to handle the responsibility."

"That doesn't excuse her leaving her son there to die," Clint interjected coldly.

"Of course it doesn't," the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent agreed.

"What's going to happen to her?" Steve wanted to know, after a brief pause.

"She's been arrested for child endangerment and attempted murder. Even if she isn't convicted, which is very unlikely, Peter will be taken away from her."

"I can't believe anyone could do that," Pepper muttered in disgust. Unable to stand still she got up and went to make tea for everyone, needing something to do with her hands.

"What's going to happen now?" Tony finally spoke up.

"Social Services are on their way. They should be here any minute now," Coulson stood up. "I have to go finish up some paperwork. They might need you to sign some documents, jut give them my card and it'll be taken care of."

On his way out he dropped one of his business cards onto the table. Everyone else slowly wandered away, dropping kisses or just saying a quiet goodbye to Peter on their way out, until it was just him and Steve left. He slid into the seat beside him, Steve wrapping an arm around his waist, the three of them sitting and cuddling till JARVIS announced that they had visitors.

"They'll find a good family to adopt him," Steve reassured as they got his bag together.

"I'm sure they will," Tony agreed though his heart wasn't in it. Just as Coulson had said there was paperwork to be dealt with but after handing over the card, that was the end of that. Five minutes later they were gone and they'd taken Peter away with them.

* * *

It took Tony all of two days to crack. The house seemed so quiet. In the workshop his music was up to full blast, he didn't have to worry about using his blowtorch in case it scared the baby, he didn't have to stay quiet when the baby was napping. Empty. The crib and the toys reminded Tony that he was gone and yet he couldn't bring himself to pack them away. He'd visited orphanages before, what if Peter wasn't being looked after properly? Or getting enough attention?

The deciding factor was when he was supposed to be working on the suit and instead had started designing a toy dog he thought Peter would like. Enough was enough. Throwing down his tools he went looking for Steve, JARVIS directing him towards the kitchen.

"I miss him," Tony blurted out, no use beating around the bush.

"I know you do, we all do," Steve agreed, putting down the bowl he was using to face him, sensing this was going somewhere, a cute half smile playing on his face.

"I want him back," he declared, watching closely for Steve's reaction. Amusement, confusion, hope, so many emotion flitted over his face that Tony couldn't place.

"When we talked about it you said you never wanted children. This can't be an impulse decision." This was all said in a reasonable, calm tone of voice yet it still annoyed Tony.

"Don't you think I know that? Because I do! And for all I know I'd be a terrible parent but he's all I can think about and we managed to not kill him for two weeks so it can't be all that bad."

"You can't have a kid just because you managed to keep him alive for half a month," again with the slight amusement, sending Tony over the edge.

"I'm being serious here Rogers! This isn't a joke to me, I love that little guy and I don't want him spending another day away from home and I plan on getting him back whether or not you agree," he ranted, glaring at Steve, who gave him that soppy smile he always did when Tony said something stupid.

"Of course I agree. I just needed you to admit why you wanted him," Steve said in a placating manner. "I love you Tony and I want a family with you. Now lets go get our son."

"I love you too," Tony murmured pulling him down into a kiss as his heart swelled. Already he had a family he could only have ever dreamed of having and it was just going to get that much better. They were going to be parents. And while Tony was worried he knew Steve would be by his side the whole time, helping him along the way. His life had become…. Well if it wasn't perfection then he didn't know what was. Who knew, Tony Stark was a family man after all.


End file.
